Disturbia

DVD Cover Deconstruction

Play on words: The title disturbia is made up of the word suburbia and disturbed which gives the audience a clue where the film is going to be set and what it's going to be about right from the start.

The tag line 'Every killer lives next door to someone' gives yet more clues to what the film is going to be about and links to the current fears of society.

Images:

• white boy (almost spookily white) close up on face
• Binoculars- signify thriller theme of voyeurism
• You can't see his face due to the binoculars and his face is half shadowed which is strange because usually it's the villain who is dehumanised
• Houses are shown at the bottom of the DVD cover showing surburbia giving more clues to the audience as to the location of the film.
• The binocular lenses are the only places where colour is used on the DVD cover. The colour used is red which represents blood. This could be foreshadowing that by looking through the binoculars, bad things are going to happen. In the lenses you can see the heroine of the film and in the background you can see the silhouette of the armed villain. This is a very effective picture as you are unsure whether the heroine knows if the villain is behind her which makes the picture tense.
• The colours used on the DVD cover are black, red and white. Black connotes darkness and danger, red represents blood and white possibly shows the boy on the front of the DVD cover is the main character (in the limelight) or is heroic / saintly (religious)